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- BIOPHYSICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WETLANDS IN THE MEDITERRANEA
BIOPHYSICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WETLANDS IN THE MEDITERRANEA
Auteur :
Kraiem
Habib
Date de publication : 01/12/2002
Type : Article
Thème : Ecosystèmes terrestres
Couverture :
Maroc
URL Article :
http://www.uicnmed.org/web2007/CDCambio_climatico/contenido/F/PDF/CC_f4.pdfURL Source :
http://www.uicnmed.org 
Télécharger le document :
(525,15 kB) biophysical_socio-economic_impacts_climate_change_wetlands_mediterranean.pdfRésumé/Sommaire :
Wetlands evokes generally water and water resources or water systems which evokes water cycle which evokes ultimately climate. They provide globally significant social, economic and environmental benefits, into the extent that they have been subject to increasing human pressure over the time, leading to loss and degradation of valuable resources. Climate change has been also identified as a notable factor contributing to loss and degradation of wetlands, but there has been little attention given so far by policy-makers to the relationship between climate change and the wise use of wetlands.
Within the framework of the implementation of the UNFCCC, the projected changes in climate are likely to affect wetlands significantly, in their spatial extent, distribution and functions. Indeed, since the IPCC SAR, various investigations have led to greater confidence in the ability of models to project future climate, which allowed the TAR to confirm many established facts observed over the 20th century, and to confirm the role of effect of GHG emissions and aerosols due to human activities in altering the atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect the climate. Thus, under the IS92a scenario, the projected changes in climate are likely to cause a globally averaged surface temperature increase by 1.4 to 5.8°C over the period 1990 to 2100, and a globally mean sea level rise by 0.09 to 0.88 metres between 1990 and 2100 for the full range of SRES scenarios.
As far the Mediterranean region is concerned, sub-regional climate change scenarios have been derived from the global and regional ones constructed under different emission scenarios using various models and leading methodologies. The results under both SRES and IS92a emissions scenarios, which were then assessed for inter-model consistency, suggest that the warming will be is in excess of 40% above the global average, that for Precipitation , in spite of disagreement between scenarios, there is a consensus about the presumption of a greater contrast of the climate: In the South, the risk of a more arid climate during the XXIst century, and in the North, climate will be more contrasted, rainier in winter and dryer and more irregular in summer, and that for Sea level change, the rate of local sea level rise in the 21st century is projected to be greater than in the 20th century at the great majority of coastal locations.
Water and wetlands in the Mediterranean: water either as a resource or as an environment, is at the heart of interactions and tenseness, even conflicts, between the environment and the development, particularly within the Mediterranean region. As a resource water, which refers to total freshwater renewable resources, is rare, more and more solicited and submitted to anthropogenic pressures and it is very prone to climate change effects and consequences.
Furthermore, during the 21st century, the projected differences in the demographic increase of Northern and the Southern countries will sharpen water shortage within the less supplied countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Water as an environment refers to all marine/coastal and terrestrial natural wetlands, as well as to artificial water reservoirs. Within the Mediterranean basin, water is a valuable, but a fragile environment, which has been taped over time for various purposes. In addition, the Mediterranean Sea itself, which is a common patrimony for most of the surrounding countries, determines largely the climatic characteristics of terrestrial and coastal biotopes and ecosystems.
Mediterranean wetlands are defined and determined by three main environmental factors: (i) The Mediterranean climate that acts through regional and sub-regional variations, in iv particular the great year-to-year variation in the timing and quantity of rainfall; (ii) Topography and geology in through the existence of coastal plains and lowland. In fact, most of wetlands occur on these coastal plains and within interior drainage basins and (iii) Marine tides which are of limited importance within the sub-region and which occur along the Gulf of Gabès at the eastern coast of Tunisia, etc.
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